Friday, March 29, 2013

Book Beginnings: Independent People

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+ or other social media sites, please spread the word. You can use the hash tag #BookBeginnings.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

In early times, say the Icelandic chronicles, men from the Western Islands came to live in this country, and when they departed, left behind them crosses, bills, and other objects used in the practice of sorcery.

-- Independent People by Halldór Laxness, first published in 1946. Laxness was Iceland's most famous author and only Nobel Laureate.

This story of subsistence sheep farmer Bjartur of Summerhouses is set in the 20th century, but feels like an ancient epic. So far, it reads like a cross between J. R. R. Tolkien and Thomas Hardy.

7 comments
:

Wow, what an interesting beginning and an interesting-sounding book. Hope you enjoy. I had mixed feelings about Kristin Lavransdatter, which this reminds me a little of. It would be interesting to read about Iceland, a place I'm not familiar with (and I bet I'm not alone). Strangely I have a reference to Iceland in my book beginning today. :)

Because of an Around the World reading challenge I did last year (and we all decided to continue), I have this and two other Icelandic books on my to-read shelf. Looks good, really. I love to read about isolated places!